Browsing: Science and technology

The Navy’s operational security program is making a big push for sailors and and their families to lock down their social media presence lately, in the wake of a list of service members posted to an Islamic State group supporter’s website last month. Though no imminent threats have been made against sailors, officials urged personnel to tighten the privacy settings on their social media accounts by making them private or unsearchable, and removing any military affiliation from their accounts. But the internet is a labyrinth of accessible personal information and confusing privacy settings, so the experts at Navy Information Operations…

Meet the hull crawler. Think Roomba robot, but for your ship’s hull — a remote rover that could keep sailors from having to squeeze into tight spaces or going over the side. It’s a shoe-box-sized robot that clings to a ship’s hull with magnets, a device initially built to scout out the underwater mines divers could place along a ship’s hull. But now, designers are looking for additional uses that may assist sailors in more mundane tasks, like spotting corrosion along the hull or motoring into hard-to-reach places like tanks and voids. The system — which is not in the…

A few lucky travelers passing through Lambert International Airport in St. Louis Dec. 13 may have caught a glimpse of aviation history in the making — and of military aviation’s future — when Boeing’s Phantom Ray unmanned airborne system hitched a ride on NASA’s Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The flight was a test to check the in-flight performance of the SCA while flying with the Phantom Ray and a special adapter before making the much longer trek to California for test flights at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. And it marked the first time in 33…

An artist’s rendition of the the AGS at work. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead in an interview with Navy Times last month voiced his commitment to providing Marines precision littoral fire support. We’re looking at rounds that give us extended range and are compatible with 5-inch guns. Precision is going to be key. In today’s world, if you are developing a fire solution, it must be able to give you almost pinpoint accuracy, to within a couple of meters. GPS technology offers that. Of course, there is a huge G-force, so [the round] will have to be able…

You gotta love competition. When Northrop Grumman on Dec. 16, 2008, unveiled its sleek X-47B unmanned bomber – officially, it’s UCAS-D or Unmanned Combat Air Systems-Demonstrator – the stealth-like sleekness of its batwing shape garnered oohs and aahs from the crowd at its manufacturing plant in Palmdale, Calif. The innovative aircraft could be the Navy’s first unmanned aircraft to take off and land on an aircraft carrier at sea. But after initial taxi tests, it still awaits its inaugural flight. This week, another defense giant, Boeing Defense Space & Security, unveiled its unmanned prototype called Phantom Ray during…

As further evidence that the Geek Squad provides the best pickings for tomorrow’s Navy, we turn to the latest news out of the Naval Academy. For the Class of 2015, cyberwarfare and cybersecurity will be right up there with the traditional instruction of all things nautical. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to the latest gaggle of plebes. Most spent their elementary recess periods pecking away on a computer, so they get it. For the older salts who are scratching their heads, realize that the Navy righly recognizes cyberwarfare is arguably the greatest threat facing the modern military. This understanding…

Scoop Deck spent an awesome morning with retired Capt. (Dr.) Don Walsh, pilot of the bathyscaphe Trieste, which recorded the deepest dive any man has made. He and Jacques Piccard on Jan. 23, 1960 dove 35,797 feet (6.8 miles) into the deepest known part of any ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. (Navy Times has some special coverage regarding that dive in the upcoming edition.) Walsh, a submariner by trade, shared another interesting story: how he got his doctorate. The Naval Academy grad didn’t finish on the top rungs of his class. In his words, he was “officially stupid.” After…

The Navy kicked off the month by kicking pirate butt in three foiled attacks. The stories that nabbed most other headlines this week included the Nuclear Posture Review, which was all the talk in the beltway; F-35 training, which continues despite problems getting the jets; the Fire Scout, which scored its first drug bust; the smoking ban on subs and the Navy’s decision to restrict the wear of ball caps and coveralls. Here’s seven stories in seven minutes from the past seven days that you may not have seen, but are worthy of notice:

It’s the rare space shuttle that doesn’t shoot toward space without the Navy aboard in some form or fashion. Monday’s predawn launch of Space Shuttle Discovery – officially it’s STS-131 mission – from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center came with two military officers at the helm, including shuttle commander and Navy Capt. Alan G. Poindexter, 49, along with pilot, Air Force Col. James P. Dutton, Jr., 41. The seven-member crew, which includes three women, is on a 13-day mission and the 33rd shuttle trip to the International Space Station. Poindexter, a veteran F-14 Tomcat and test pilot, joined NASA in 1998,…

Anybody see the Navy’s Chief Information Officer’s blog this week? Rob Carey, the Navy’s top techie, approves of sites like Facebook. 3. Social Media as a Tool to Build Trust. Social media is an inherent part of the toolbox for members of the millennial workforce, while baby boomers are just adopting it. Social media tools should become the standard by which we can share and collaborate on information inside and outside the network boundaries. Nevertheless, there is a downside.